PODS® Reviews
PODs is great in terms of customer service, timely delivery, and allowing for moving and storage at the same time. However, after discussing how much furniture was to be moved, it was recommended that a 16' POD be rented. Unfortunately all of our items didn't fit in the POD, and we needed to rent a Uhaul truck the next day to remove the remainder of our items and store them at a family member's house. A better estimate would have allowed us to rent a 16' POD as well as a 7' POD to move all of our items in one day.
Everyone I dealt with from PODS was very professional. The POD arrived and was picked up on schedule at my old house and my new apartment. When I needed to change the dates, there was never any question or problem. PODS made what could have been a stressful situation into a very easy move for me. I chose PODS because I wanted to pack at my own pace. I didn't know exactly where I would be living or when I would arrive so I needed to store my things until those decisions were made.
My initial experience with PODs was very good but tarnished by my final transfer. PODs had an issue on their website where some order details were erroneously removed (without the customer knowing) combined with another issue where no one got reminder emails or calls the day my PODs were to be delivered. In my case, final transfer of one of my two PODs was deleted by the system and since I didn't get a reminder call, I didn't realize this until the day of the transfer. I spent 20 minutes being told off by their customer service agent who insisted that this was mistake and that I needed to pay a 50 dollar same day delivery charge. It was only after I asked to speak with a manager, he noticed and admitted the system errors and promptly agreed to cover the charge. However, by properly keeping their customer service staff apprised of these system issues, PODs could have ensured an overall good experience. Another thing to realize is that items move about in POD transfer much more than an ordinary truck and perhaps affiliated movers should be advised how POD loading is a bit different from a regular moving truck (boxes stacked to high will almost inevitably fall). Finally, PODs needs to make their user interface much clearer .. even as a person with many years in the software industry, several steps and information presented were not intuitive. By some of these simple measures PODs could provide a much more satisfying customer experience.
container arrived on time and picked up quickly on both ends of the move. Drivers very friendly and pod clean yes I would use them again. I liked using pods because I felt better knowing only my belongings were in the pod not like using a long distance moving co. that puts other jobs on the same truck. I also had a local mover pack my house and load the pod.
An "overall" good first-time experience as far as the convenience of a "POD" move was concerned--which I think is a smart way to move or store. Drop-off location in drive didn't match request so awkward access, driver forgot packing blankets, and I had to purchase/set-off insecticide bomb to take care of ant infestation. Corporate office courteous in straightening things out.
Excellent. This was a convenient and efficient way to move across country. It was expensive but allowed me the flexibility to store my things as I transitioned from one place to another and to schedule the move to fit my needs. The drivers were competent and helpful. I would definitely use PODS again.
The $200 cost above is before storage and drop off fees. I'm not sure what those will be yet. I've always been a fan of PODS; have used them many times. This time around I underestimated the size. I got a 12ft based on the PODS website recommendation, but I really needed a 16ft. I don't think their website is inaccurate, I just did not take into account the size and bulkiness of my furniture. The drop off and pick up was routine and they were able to maneuver the POD into a parallel parking space outside my apartment. I definitely would recommend them to anyone!
All was perfect until delivery day. I needed a permit to park the POD on a deserted street per city rules. The permit people talked to the driver on the phone and I guaranteed I would pick it up (it took 15 min) but the driver would not leave my things causing me extra lodging expenses waiting for 2 more days to re-deliver and throwing off the unpackers schedule.
PODs customer service was rude and slow. Every instance we needed to call we spent at minimum 15-30 min waiting on hold. Scheduling was just as bad and not reflective of the advertisement. Our move was at the end of month and POD's was trying to push our dates out almost a week even with advance notice. On our move out the driver for the day was sick and had to cancel our delivery which had to be rescheduled. We obviously escalated the issue but had similar experience once we determined our move in day. All escalations have to be routed to the location manager and they will not allow you to speak to the manager directly and the response is always done by customer service who will hah and hem about your issues and show no concern or empathy even though the issue is on there end. Side note, they claim they are really busy with work. If you are so busy why don't you hire more drivers? We chose POD's for convenience but would never recommend again. Your experience may very if you are not doing storage and completing a direct move but again I would keep your expectations low.
The actual mechanics of the process were fine. But when things went wrong--and they did-- with one exception, none of the customer service people seemed concerned enough to even try to fix the problem. Instead they just quoted rules and regulations why they couldn't do anything. This especially annoyed me since they required payments of everything up front at least five days before they performed any service. But when the service was not performed satisfactorily, it was just: "Oh, we're very sorry." Even though I still think the PODs model is a great idea, for this reason, I would not use them again.
I had a great experience with PODS. We used 2 PODS. We loaded the first ourselves (which allowed us to have more room in the house and garage for packing). We used a HireAHelper that they recommended to load the second and to unload in the new house. They were flexible in pick up and delivery time. Everything arrived on time and in good shape.